Chapter Text
The street before Tournesol was bathed in a soft yellow. Many hours before noon, the workers and early birds of the city were well on their way. Suited employees heading for their bureaus, shopkeepers pushing open their doors and dusting their shelves, and cars rumbling to and fro, the impatient drivers letting their early frustrations be heard by leaning on the wheels.
Sciel never took these mornings for granted. She sat on a simple wooden stool outside Tournesol, partially obscuring the inside of the shop’s long front window. Directly behind her were rows of potted plants, a miniature flower garden on display with small signs hanging underneath some of the popular, colorful flowers for sale. Sciel wore a long and simple black dress. The material was soft and airy, comfortable. Across her shoulders was an even comfier, brown cardigan. She watched the comings and goings of the street before her with the hint of a smile on her face. A small white plate rested in her lap, atop it a strong cup of black tea. These simple mornings, the mornings in the late summer where beneath the sun one could find warmth, and then in the next breath a strong breeze sends a refreshing kiss across the cheek. Sciel took a sip of her tea and sighed softly. This was life. Dozens and dozens of people, all the centerpieces of their own worlds, all with their own hearts and fears and desires.
One of those aforementioned breezes blew some strands of Sciel’s bangs loose. Sun-kissed hair swayed at the fringes of her vision as she looked down. The contents of her cup dark and earthy. Much like a pair of eyes, eyes she could feel herself get lost in on a summer day just like this one.
“I don’t know? What the hell do I care for flowers.”
Sciel lifted her head to see a woman walking in her direction down the sidewalk. The woman’s hair was dark and wavy, her outfit tucked and proper. She wore the white and black of the academy, a tucked shirt and coat that slightly trailed with each step. A student there, perhaps. Sciel looked towards her with a welcoming smile, and just as she opened her mouth to greet her, the woman strode right past her and bent over to inspect one of the potted flowers on display.
“They’re colorful. What else is there to say about them? Well does he have a favorite color? I don’t know what it is.”
The dark-haired woman bent down and idly brushed her fingers against a purple clump of hydrangeas before scowling, unimpressed, and straightening back up.
“Hello?” Sciel said quietly.
The woman didn’t react, either she didn’t hear her or didn’t care to hear her. Sciel quirked a brow and rather than repeat herself, she simply lifted her cup of tea and chose to watch.
The woman then turned on her heel to face the street. She pressed her fingers against her brow and let out an exasperated sigh.
“Right, sure, let me just ask. I should’ve offered to get the damn pastries over this. I don’t think—“ She turned around and hastily opened the door of the flower shop. The bells on the inside corner chimed with the motion. Sciel watched as the woman stuck her head inside, looked left and right, and sighed even louder. “I don’t think there’s anyone even on the clock here. Unbelievable.” The dark-haired woman then stepped inside and closed the door behind her.
It was as though all the motion, energy, and force on the entire street had been whisked away along with this woman. Sciel blinked and lowered her cup. She wasn’t exactly sure what just happened, but she glanced up and down the street and the people who walked about, the cars, even the birds that chirped above, they all seemed muted now. Sciel rested her cup on the plate and held the bottom of it with one hand and pulled the door of her shop open with the other.
The interior was mostly natural lighting. Flowers looked most beautiful when it was nature itself illuminating it, rays of the sun that seeped in from the window and street, painting silhouettes of its own by the rooftops that tried and failed to obscure its light. It was maze-like. Sciel spent months constantly redecorating, shuffling, adjusting, trying to make the layout of feel just right. Though it never really did, it always felt like something was missing. Some of her regulars would get confused with the shifting layout. This woman stood among a few rows of roses. Her arms were folded, brow pinched in an expression that was clear enough, telling that she didn’t want to be here. Sciel strode through the rows of flowers with a sly little smile on her face. She walked around the counter and slid her plate and empty tea cup aside.
“Can I help you find something?” Sciel said.
The woman didn’t budge or respond. She was still staring at the roses as though they’d personally offended her.
“Hello?” Sciel said, a bit louder. This time she leaned in and waved her hand to try and get her attention.
Finally, Sciel’s existence was acknowledged. The woman turned to face her.
“Do you work here?!” She nearly shouted.
Sciel’s eyes widened at the sudden rise in her tone. A telltale sign enough that made the woman gasp. She reached towards her ears, hand obscured briefly amidst her raven-colored hair. Two brass-colored, circular things, were pulled free from her ears. They settled around her neck, connected by some sort of wire that wrapped about.
“They’re a prototype,” She began as she stepped towards the counter. “They allow verbal communication with another wearer over a great distance. The woman I’m talking to in them is actually five or six blocks away.”
“Oh, well, here I thought you were ignoring me on purpose outside. Maybe you could fiddle with volume on them a bit so…” A flash, just the corner of Sciel’s mouth lifted into a little smile, her teeth visible for a breath.
Though the joke didn’t seem to land. The other woman pursed her lips, her cheeks danced a bit with a shade of pink in embarrassment it seemed.
“Well I did say they were a prototype. My studies are focused on the advancement of pictos. Finding ways to implement them into the day-to-day of people’s lives is naturally another hurdle.”
Sciel nodded slowly. She planted one hand on the counter and lifted the other in a little shrug.
“Let me know when those are for sale, then. I’m still behind a few leaps, my carrier pigeon hasn’t come back for a month or so.”
Sciel laughed. The other woman didn’t.
“I need flowers,” The woman said as she folded her arms again. Sciel looked in her eyes and that’s when she saw the markings about her eye. “My professor thought he was more of a handy-man than he actually is and broke a leg trying to renovate his roof. I was informed by a colleague that we should pay him a visit with some… gifts.”
“You’re a student at the academy then?”
“Mhm.”
Now Sciel pursed her lips. She tapped a finger against her chin. “Well, since you don’t know what your professor’s favorite color is, can’t go wrong with an assortment.” The surprise on the other woman’s face from Sciel’s observation manifested in a brief parting of her lips. A question, a how?, that she wanted to ask. Sciel smiled to herself again and walked around the counter. She motioned with her head.
“Come on, I can put one together for you and we can get you out of here as quick as we can.”
Sciel selected a modest vase. It didn’t seem like those two were particularly close, this was a… formality, was the word. The picking process was meticulous, careful, and the flowers picked were varied. Tulips, orchids, a sunflower to bring a splash of yellow. Sciel lowered herself to a row of purple and pink tulips, hiking up the ends of her dress with as hand as she picked a few more. She looked up, hazel-green eyes blinking up to meet the other woman’s. They held eye-contact briefly, before the woman looked elsewhere.
“I’m Sciel,”
Sciel looked back down. She fiddled with the assortment of flowers a bit more. The sunflowers were most common, the shop’s namesake. Sciel dusted her dress, gathered the vase in her hands, and stood back up. She held it out towards the other.
“Lune.” She said, voice quiet, but firm.
Lune took the vase. She inspected the flowers, Sciel wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not but… she looked like she was trying to come off as though there was some expertise and scrutiny but, there really wasn’t. Sciel still waited silently and patiently for her inspection to end.
“Good, these are good.” Lune finally said.
The pair made their way back to the counter before Lune slowly came to a halt.
Lune pointed towards the back of the store’s interior. Two thick, dark curtains served as the doorway. Above the curtains was a handwritten sign that read, ‘Please ask to be accompanied by the store owner beyond this point.’
“Ah,” Another smile, this one a bit wider. Sciel patted the counter. “Just leave that there, I can show you.”
Lune placed the vase down. The look in her eyes had shifted already. This woman she was so, intent. So expressive with just a look, where her face often seemed as though it leaned towards hiding what she might feel. Just the hint of something curious, something to uncover, Sciel could see in Lune’s eyes just how keen she could be.
“Well?” Lune said. Sciel realized she was just standing, staring.
Sciel laughed it off and quickly started walking towards the curtains. She pulled back one of them slightly. Just enough for a person to slide through. Lune looked hesitant to enter into a room that looked so dark with a stranger. She hesitated by the curtain.
“I wouldn’t try to kill you in a shady room now that I know you could just scream into your little prototype, come on.” Sciel smiled again, much toothier this time.
Lune let out a little huff, blowing hair out of her face as she leaned down and walked past. Sciel could’ve sworn she saw the faintest ghost of a smile in her mouth.
Sciel closed the curtain behind her. Diligent in how she set the curtain, ensuring all the light from the interior of the shop was blocked off. Inside the room was an incredibly faint white light. The light illuminated a small glass case atop a table. There were assorted gardening supplies in the room, lining the walls, but that table and glass case had their own clean corner. Lune walked towards the case of her own accord, and Sciel was just a few steps behind. Inside the case was a trio of flowers. They were stark in how white the color was, almost translucent but, milky, similar to that of the moon. Sciel stood with her hands behind her lower back, her gaze fond towards the flowers. She felt a twinge in her chest, the caress of a ghost, cool by nature but comforting by gesture.
The petals of the flowers were fourfold, each of them, opening outwards and leaning downwards towards the dirt itself for four or five inches. The center was white as well, but the buds were incredibly minute and many, resembling crystals more than anything else. Even in this faint, white light, they sparkled like stars.
“Wow,” Lune breathed. Her eyes were wide as well, the flowers color reflecting in her eyes like moons of their own. “What are they?”
“They’re… well, they were a gift. Found in a cave far off into the country, a cave that wasn’t really charted on any maps as far as I was told, tucked away and all. The entrance has the ocean just… crashing against it.” Sciel’s voice tapered off near the end. She blinked, and continued.
“I call them luminaries. Any exposure to sunlight for… even over an hour or so will kill them. They grow best in the dark, cool water and cool air.”
Lune didn’t speak for a few moments. There was a quiet peace in that room. Sciel often found herself sitting here on her own. When her thoughts wouldn’t settle and the doors to the store were long closed shut. After a minute of silence, Lune straightened up.
“Well, I’ll take all three. They’re pretty, I guess.”
Sciel couldn’t help the soft gasp that left her lips.
“I—uh, well, I don’t— they’re not—“
And then Lune laughed. It was sweet, almost unintentionally melodic. Lune closed her eyes, the corners of them crinkling as her teeth flashed and she bent over, the volume of her laughter growing.
“I’m just kidding, oh, you should’ve seen your face,” Lune gathered herself. “They’re beautiful. Though they’re probably much safer with you than me.”
Sciel exhaled, shaking her head but unable to keep her own smile off her face. The two of them made their way out of the dark room and Sciel closed the curtain snug behind her. She returned to the counter and took Lune’s payment, and handed the vase back towards her.
“Thanks, Sciel. And thanks for the tour, you’re—“ Lune paused, then slid one of those brass circles into her ear. She held the vase of flowers under her other arm and was instantly occupied by whatever she was hearing on the other end.
“No, what? No, yes. Yes I got the flowers, I’ll meet you there, just make the driver stay a few more minutes I’ll be right there.” Lune was walking as she spoke. She pushed the door open with her back, the bells chimed again, and she was gone. Sciel watched her from the window. Her gait, the way she was gesticulating with her free arm, looking as though she was growing more and more irate with the situation. Sciel watched until she disappeared from view. The interior of the shop was quiet again. It was just her, just her and the scent of flowers, and the void that someone like Lune left behind with just their presence. The lack of motion, of energy, of space.
A sad smile flitted across Sciel’s lips. She reached down behind the counter. There was a lower shelf, tucked out of customer’s view. A picture frame. Sciel lifted it, brushing some dust off the glass.
It was her and Pierre. Their last photo together, taken three years ago. They were standing before the shop’s front door. They were smiling. Sciel had a sunflower in her hair that he had placed there right before the camera’s flash went off.
Sciel rubbed her thumb over his face, then grazed it over her own. She felt a tightness in her chest, the same one that came when she looked at the luminaries. The store was quiet, it was still another hour or two before she expected her first customers to trickle in. It was just her, the quiet.
She slowly slid the frame back into its place.
The inside of the store’s layout wasn’t right. She had to adjust it a little. Yes, that’s what she’d do with her morning.